Riding down memory lane

For those of a certain age, Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial beginning of summer, brings back memories of time before the sensory overload of cellphones and social media.

That’s the nostalgia trip Bob Scharmett, owner of the Milford (N.H.) Drive-in since 1969, continues to provide.

At least when the weather cooperates.

“You’ve got to have the right movies and you have to have the weather. When we have the weather, we do all right. When we don’t have the weather, we don’t,” Scharmett recently told the newspaper.

Owning a drive-in isn’t as easy — or profitable — as it used to be.

Many states don’t have any. But Scharmett, a longtime Leominster resident, still believes they’re special places on spring and summer nights. It’s about the magic of watching movies under the stars, of families spending affordable time together.

Vehicles holding up to six people gain entrance for just $30.

That’s a throwback price to a time when drive-ins were in their prime, in the 1950s and ’60s, before their popularity began to wane. At one point, their number exceeded 4,000 across the country. That’s dwindled to about 325 today.

Back then, Fitchburg had two drive-ins, while in Greater Lowell, you could find drive-in screens in Chelmsford, Tyngsboro, Tewksbury, Lowell and Methuen.

Located at 531 Elm St., the Milford Drive-in is currently open on Friday and Saturday nights. In mid-june, when school’s out for the summer, it will show movies seven nights a week until Labor Day.

The fact it’s a family business probably accounts for Milford’s longevity.

Scharmett, a spry 85, owns the business with his sons, Steven, the chief financial officer, and Barry, the vice president. A daughter-in-law runs the concession area. Other family members have served in less official roles, many while they attended high school or college.

“I like that idea. I like to have family. They’ve done an excellent job,” Scharmett said of his sons. “Everything runs like a clock. Not only my sons, we have really good help. It’s very important.”

For that trip down memory lane alone, an excursion to the Milford Drive-in is worth the roughly 45-minute ride.